Virus outbreak on French warship sparks military weakness fears

Sidharth Kaushal, a research fellow in sea power at the London-based Royal United Services Institute, warned it was impossible to eliminate risk on naval vessels with cramped living quarters in which social distancing was impossible. “The US navy has restricted sailors’ activities during port calls and, in the medium to long term, they are looking at scaling down deployments such as the Rim of the Pacific exercise later this year, so this could clearly disrupt readiness cycles,” he said.